Free Stock Footage

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Over the years I have picked up and discarded many, many hobbies, too many to name, seriously. One of my current ones is what I like to call assembling or remixing films. Now gentle reader, before you get all offended and the hair on the back of your neck rises up, and your fists clench, I shall explain. What the remixing or assembling of films process involves, at least as it was taught to me by the master of the art form, Jack Hackhorn, is to collect free stock footage or uncopyrighted films, cut, assemble, and then add a new soundtrack to make a new and interesting film. One of the best places on the internet to find free stock footage and audio clips, is a site called Internet Archive.

Amateur filmmaker and assembler Jack Hackhorn was the one responsible for introducing me to the site after I asked him for a recommendation because I was in need of a few seconds of footage of a terrible thunderstorm for a home movie I was making. The archive itself has an incredible collection of both copyrighted and non copyrighted film and audio clips free to download. The copyrighted material must of course be cleared for use if you plan on using it for commercial purposes.

This site is perfect for both the amatuer and professional filmmaker to find those much needed audio and video clips for their project. This site is also extremely easy to naviagte through and downloading the footage takes just one click. Many of the amateur filmmakers also use the site to upload the films they themselves have made using the stock footage. The site also has a diverse and interesting community of filmmakers and enthusiasts that are members, though membership is not necessary to watch or download clips, that rate and critque the footage posted on the site. This helps in giving someone a better idea of the quality or footage they may want to download.

Not only is the site great for finding stock footage but it also boasts a fine collection of classics films and the Prelinger Archives. And for the Grateful Dead fans out there, a ridiculous amount of live shows are available in the audio section of the archive. So for all you budding filmmakers or home movie enthusiasts looking for audio and video clips to complete your lastest project your best bet is to check out Internet Archive where everything is free and downloading is as easy as one click. You can also see some of Jack Hackhorn’s finished products on Youtube.